Kraken rally, but drop franchise’s 1st game

The Golden Knights earned a victory in their first game in franchise history four years ago.

They denied the Seattle Kraken the same accomplishment on Tuesday night. Max Pacioretty scored twice as the Knights spoiled the Kraken’s debut with a 4-3 win in Las Vegas.

Chandler Stephenson and Jonathan Marchessault also scored for the Knights, while Robin Lehner made 25 saves.

After four years of cheering for Marc-Andre Fleury as the face of the franchise, an announced crowd of 18,431 gave Lehner and roar of approval during pregame introductions, and a raucous ovation after the final horn.

A big win that nearly eluded the Knights, as they held off a rally from the NHL’s latest addition in what turned out to be a scrappy effort from the Kraken, who erased a 3-0 deficit and tied the game before Stephenson’s controversial game-winning goal midway through the third period pushed the Knights ahead for good.

“It speaks to our character as a team,” Morgan Geekie said of the Kraken rally. “We knew they were a good team coming, and they kind of paved the way. But I like the way we brought tonight, and I think we got better as the game went on.”

Ryan Donato scored the Kraken’s first goal in franchise history, while Jared McCann and Geekie added goals. Phillip Grubauer had 18 saves in his first game as a Kraken.

Tennis: No. 2 Iga Swiatek, the highest remaining women’s seed, lost to No. 24 Jelena Ostapenko 6-4, 6-3 in the fourth round at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif. No. 3 Barbora Krejcikova was beaten by 21st-seeded Paula Badosa 6-1, 7-5 and American Jessica Pegula routed No. 5 Elina Svitolina 6-1, 6-1 to reach the tournament’s quarterfinals for the first time. U.S. Open women’s runner-up Leylah Fernandez and three-time men’s Grand Slam champ Andy Murray also suffered losses.